Praise Dancing brings Surprise Weekend
This is an amazing story of how God “supplies and surprises” and also gives us the desires of our hearts. Be sure to read to the end – it has a great ”punch line” thanks to God. Enjoy!_
Surprise Weekend – Praise Report
by Bill & Kathy Latocki – July 2001
All photos © 2001-2006 by William A. Latocki
Kathy and I had a surprised filled weekend as a gift from God. Here’s the story:
One of my ad agency clients, and a good friend, invited me to the annual Port Huron to Mackinac Sailboat Race. The plan was to shoot photos of the race and a boat that my client would be a crew member on (called the Night Train). These photos were to be used for a start-up company idea he had.
After a 3 hour drive to Port Huron we arrived and realized there was no way to locate his sailboat – or him! My client’s cell phone was not connecting us like we had planned and also there was no organized listing of boat names with where they were docked. There were so many boats that the crew members actually had to climb over two and three other boats to get to their boats.
Now picture this: there were 280 registered boats for the race, hundreds and hundreds of spectator’s boats, and over 25,000 people! Finding the Night Train boat looked impossible. So it was a perfect time to trust God.
We were walking the docks and enjoying the huge crowd for about a half hour and then realized it’s time to pray some scripture if we were ever going to find that boat before it got dark.
First Surprise and Blessing:
I knew that God knew where the boat was so I asked the Lord to lead me to it. Kathy encouraged me to start asking people on any boat because they might know that boat and where it may be. After I prayed, I walked up to the first person I saw – a man just climbing off a boat – and said: “I have a question for you: Where can I find a 35-foot Thomas named Night Train?” A surprised, questioning look crossed his face as he replied: ”That’s my boat. I’m standing on it.” Yep. First person asked. Kathy was my witness. It was that easy. God just showed off!
Second Surprise and Blessing:
That night we crossed the Blue Water Bridge and stayed in Canada (all hotels in Port Huron were booked). Then we were really blessed with favor the next morning – the day of the BIG race (it’s one of the biggest sailboat races on the Great Lakes).
My client had previously tried to get me on a press boat in order to be able to shoot better pictures of the race than I could get from the shore. He could not make it happen. He said only the major league sailing magazines and media reps are allowed on the press boats.
Yet Kathy believed we would still be out on the water somehow and we both talked like it was going to happen anyway (we strongly believe in you have what you say).
So we just walked the docks and shoreline, taking pictures and studying the different kinds of boats. We sat down for just a moment and Kathy noticed a Press Boat that was leaving right in front of us. She suggested I ask someone how to get press access for “next year”.
Without ANY effort I easily located the person that was in charge of all the press boats – we were sitting on his bench attached to his Press Office!!!
I introduced myself, explained my desire for information on how to get on a press boat next year, and handed him my business card. There’s silence.
He looks it over carefully for a moment, then scans his clip board, looks up at me and says “I can get you on 1 of 2 press boats. They leave in 10 minutes. Pick one.”
We quickly checked them both out and with a quick prayer picked the one God pointed me to.
Believe it. See it. Do it.
Kathy and I had believed and saw it and now we were actually boarding! It all happened within a few minutes.
It gets better.
We climbed aboard and were happily greeted and accepted. We had favor! God was doing His thing. But we were not on just any ol’ press boat. It turned out to be a very special one with extra special people aboard.
We spent most of Saturday on an official Bayview Yacht Club Press Boat closely, I mean, VERY closely observing the STARTING LINE of the Port Huron to Mackinac sail boat race.
We were on the ONLY non-racing boat allowed inside the race area and on top of the starting line!!! It’s THE spot where all the sail boats would come up (and around us) to turn and get into position for the starting line. Amazing!
Many of the boats came within 15 to 50 feet of our boat. Our crew knew many of them and would easily talk to them as they were circling around us!!!
There were several different classes of boats and about 20 different starting times about 15 minutes apart – plenty of action!
Just to make this blessing a bit more impressive, we were on board with the official Communications Director of the race. That’s why our boat was the only non-racing boat allowed inside the official race area. I have her on video saying “This has got to be the best viewing spot possible”. She was full of facts and info and a lot of fun to be with. This made us feel very much part of this racing event, not just a spectator or tourist. We had a crash course in sailboat racing and a rich overview of the 77 year history of it. It was a totally deluxe participation with the best “seats” possible!
The boat’s small crew was awesome. They all were extremely nice people. We bonded, clicked, and became pals. We traded biz cards, phone numbers and email addresses. They served us plenty of food and drinks. The hospitality was first class. It was all a surprise and last minute awesome provision from God. The whole weekend was way over the top!
Following the Voice of God
LET’S REWIND: I originally had prayed about this biz trip to confirm if I should even go in the first place.
I had reservations about investing the time and energy knowing that the sun would be setting too soon on Friday night (losing the light for photos) and there was no boat ride lined up for Saturday (making for photos that would be ‘tiny’ sailboats, FAR away and basically useless when shot from the shore). My brain said “it’s a waste of time”, but I prayed about it.
God said “GO”. We obeyed. We then received and enjoyed a precious Michigan outdoor experience and adventure. Plus I now have several new friends and business contacts. When we parted ways it was like we were old friends. They seemed genuinely glad to have had us on board! They were very precious real people. Something’s up!!! God is amazing.
God told me at the beginning of the year to expect surprises and receive them. We really “received” that Friday and Saturday!!! Praise God.
Now for the “Praise Dancing” punchline to this praise report
During the few weeks prior to this race weekend I was seeding into the ministry of Prophet Kim Clement’s by creating his new CD package design. Kathy and I would start our days off dancing and praising God using the rough mix of that CD. On it was a song that we danced to with the vocals of “gotta dance” repeating over and over.
Now when this race was over, and we were back at the dock, we got off the boat and I was asked to take a group photo of the boat’s owner and friends looking up at me standing on the dock.
When I looked at the photos the next day I noticed that the name of the boat was “Gotta Dance”. I instantly got the Holy Ghost Goosebumps. It’s the prophet’s reward for sure. And just one of many (there’s more reports to post!!).
PHOTO: Flo Sears (in blue above the “G”), her boat and her dear friends.
We hope this praise report encourages you to TURN UP your expectations. He wants to bless you! God loves us and wants to show us that love. Our work is to believe and receive.
Grace2u! – Bill & Kathy
Wait, there’s more…
ANOTHER RELATED PRAISE REPORT
See the photo below this paragraph showing a crowded cluster of boats heading out to the race? See that interesting path down the middle? I shot that photo minutes before Kathy and I were assigned to the press boat that is in the praise report above. There was NO reason for the path. The extremely crowed boat chaos was crazy. I do not know how they keep from bumping into each other!!! That beautiful path appeared only for one split second and the only reason I was able to shoot it was because I tend to “glue” my camera’s viewfinder to my eye. I just KEEP WATCHING for something special to happen in a moment – and it sure did!!! – BYW - I was illegially standing on a drawbridge with sirens going off, men yelling at me with bullhorns, and the bridge was coming back down – just 3 inches from my foot. I ignored all the comotion and that is when the “path-to-glory” showed up for a moment. I was staring at it so I instantly clicked the shutter – a God moment for sure. Now it gets even better…
The next year I got a call from the Bayview Yacht Club requesting to purchase that photo to be the official photo for the 2002 Bayview Mackinac Race – YES!!!, praise God it did. It was on every T-shirt, program, press kit, poster, ad, and scratch book. I also made a mouse pad with that photo and was allowed to put one mouse pad into every “skipper bag” so that every boat owner had one with my ad agency’s promo message on it. That photo earned me respect from the Bayview Yacht Club management, the other media photographers, many sailors and crew members and now, it has earned me an ongoing, seat on future press boats!!!. Period. Done. Sealed by God. I did not make ANY of this happen. He did.
That photo has been used to teach with in my photo classes several times since. At my Cornerstone Festival photo class I used it to teach how God moves, connects us and helps us to really “SEE”. Then after that class, one student told me, in tears, that my story about the photo really touched her and changed her life. Wow. God used a photo to touch someone.
Then in 2006 I received a new client that was publishing the first book ever written about the race in its 81 year history. The author wanted that same photo to be the cover photo of his new book. I was so blessed for it to be used again – this time on the cover. I created both front and back covers and the look and feel of the entire inside. The author, Tom Ervin, has become a friend and client and is an outstanding gentleman and businessman. It is just a great example of more favor from God.
